Gettelfinger tells Senate of UAW sacrifices

UAW President Ron Gettelfinger told a Senate hearing today on an automaker rescue package that the union has made many sacrifices since 2005 to boost the competitiveness of the Detroit 3.

He said the union supports the call for $25 billion in government loans to the Detroit 3 to see them through a short-term cash crisis that is "dire and critical."

He said a collapse of the domestic industry would devastate nearly 1 million workers who rely on the Detroit 3 for pensions and health care.

A retiree health care trust negotiated in 2005 and 2007 has reduced Detroit 3 health care costs by 50 percent, he said.

Work rule changes that eliminated job classifications have saved Ford Motor Co. alone about $1 billion, Gettelfinger said.

He added that UAW members have helped make the Detroit 3 equal to rivals in manufacturing efficiency and quality. And he said that Ford is the healthiest of the three, followed by Chrysler LLC and General Motors.

Gettelfinger also took issue with what he called a misconception about the Jobs Bank — often cited by industry critics as a wasteful union-industry creation that forces automakers to keep unneeded workers on the payroll. He said that since September 2005, the bank, which pays workers nearly full salary for not working, has been virtually cleaned out of workers in spite of a massive downsizing of the industry.